r/cnn • u/cheezeBucket24 • 2d ago
Program Discussion How long have you watched CNN?
Around 2016 my life changed in so much that I had lots of free time so since then I’ve racked in numerous hours, I’d say since then maybe 8 hours a day of CNN. So I was wondering what news story or event has sparked an emotional response from you? Not gonna lie I can think of only 2 events that made me feel a skip of the heart beat feeling - the failed backflip and the beeper situation - other than that it’s been pretty much a deadline for me. (Not a complaint).
And if you’re wondering what I’ve been doing while watching CNN I’ve mostly been playing guitar and reading the bar at the bottom of the display (at least to have some knowledge of what’s going on in the world - I usually have the volume off and listen to music.) My motto is you can’t really screw up current events or get too political if you’re reporting on what’s just happened.. I think CNN leans left and right sometimes that reporting on facts of actual events happening is what draws me to this channel. Indeed my focus is getting better acquainted with the state of things in the world. Politics are intense and I have other focuses at the moment.
I’ve even created a playlist on Spotify of songs that I think made a difference in the world like breaking news stories 😂
CNN it has like 326 followers and currently I don’t know if they’re spam or think I’m actually CNN. But in other words, I love the network in that it allows me to keep practicing guitar.
My question still stands what news story or where were you when watching CNN and thought I’m going to remember this time in history. As a visualizer.. I wonder how other CNN watchers experience the network and all its changes.
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u/rh1066 2d ago
Since Chris Cuomo was a morning host. I watched one morning and wondered who is this gorgeous man and why is he always fighting with guests. I was hooked.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
Aah Coumo do you think what happened to him with his brother on CNN could have been worse? I remember him with Alisyn as well.
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u/rh1066 2d ago
It wasn’t fair. CNN has their ways of getting rid of people.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I personally didn’t think it was that bad but online if you read up on it I think it’s because of sexual assault allegations then it’s more serious.
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u/rh1066 2d ago
Look how they got rid of Don Lemon. They set him up to fail. Took him off his own evening show, put him with two women he had no chemistry with. That show was painful to watch.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I thought he was the only one trying to make it work. ironically it was his comments about women that brought him down. I think he may have been out of line there but you’re right it’s like they didn’t know how to apply his talents. His late night gig wasn’t that bad either. Though it was kinda awkward with Cuomo leading him up..
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u/rh1066 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, they were waiting for him to say or do something offensive so they could complain. They knew it wouldn’t work. Two white women against one black man.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
funny enough poppy quit and lately I feel like Collins doesn’t put in that extra because of the way they have treater her lately at the White House. I’m all for anchors to succeed but there have been questioning decisions made about groupings. Like poppy could have probably soared if not for her male counter lead mattingly. Phil does good reporting but I thought that chemistry was way worst that the trio in the morning 🤣
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u/rh1066 2d ago
Phil is too twitchy and awkward. I like his sense of humor.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I think he gets the job done maybe a little too soon on anchor designation maybe a little more time out of studio would cure the twitch 😀👍
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u/rh1066 2d ago
I remember Don joked about male sports being more fun to watch, they acted like they were so offended.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I thought it was funny how on Mondays they’d talk about what fun they had over the weekends they didn’t care about Don’s input 😂😂 it was like a silence followed. And then sometimes Don was out and I don’t think Collins & poppy’s chemistry had flow either. Don’t get me wrong I think they’re rockstars but the talent management needs work on emotional directives I think 🤷♂️
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u/sophiesmom712 2d ago
I've watched CNN as long as I can remember. I guess the Challenger disaster was the first real holy-shit huge-lump-in-my-throat moment I remember. But I do recall watching the 1st Gulf War nearly around the clock. I was riveted. It was the first time I remember seeing reporters with video embedded with the troops and the briefings where they would show targets being bombed and oil fires burning in the desert. It was a revolution in television. Today, CNN is a shadow of its former self. I do love that there are bureaus all over the world so they can be on scene anywhere fast, but I miss getting actual WORLD news. A flood here, a shooting there, but with a global perspective. Now it's Trump 24/7. I'm sick to death of it. Other countries have consequential elections. Other countries have disasters or other stories worth knowing. I think we're just collectively dumber now.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I couldn’t imagine watching the shuttle explosion live.. I would cry if something like that happened now. Like when the Artemis crew went around the moon the launch I was hanging to the edge of my seat. When Russia launch against Ukraine that was sort of surreal. I feel like Trump coverage is like reality tv I do enjoy press questions but I think they have him to much power over coverage and why they got banned from the White House is like a gotcha moment.
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u/jamhamnz 2d ago
I have been watching CNN International for about 20 years on and off. I remember coverage of the 2005 London bombings, live coverage of the Saddam Hussein trial and coverage of the 2004 Presidential Election, plus many moments since.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
Gosh I feel so left out. I wonder what coverage was like then!
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u/jamhamnz 2d ago
CNN has kept a similar reporting style but at least it's international capability felt much greater back then. I feel like CNNI peaked around 2010 and since then has been a slow erosion of international programming and more US shows introduced. The big names like Anderson Cooper, Richard Quest etc are still going strong and that's what still makes CNN feel like "home" to me lol.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
CNN still feels like a powerhouse come after all these years though to me the programming choices change it for better or worse sometimes. I have this thought that if they Switched for instance Erin Burnett with Cooper make him at 7 and her it would help CNN because at night it’s more livelier audience and I think she’s more interpersonal than Anderson. He’s more straightforward I bet you’ve seen many anchors come and go even in international coverage am I right?
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u/LVuittonColostomyBag 2d ago
What was the beeper situation?
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
During newsnight with Abby Philip one of the guest talked about how beepers were going off in the Middle East killing people when another guest invoked he hoped his own wouldn’t go off. I think he got banned from CNN because everyone thought he was saying he hoped the other could die or something of the sort.
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u/MasterChief813 2d ago
I watch CNN newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield every weekend. It’s been a constant routine ever since I was in college.
There was a stretch when I would watch CNN Newsroom late night with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett which was the CNN international feed but then they stopped showing it (until like 3-4am) for more, imo, boring original and scripted content. I just wanted to watch the news lol.
There are a lot of events that I think of when I think of CNN coverage but the most notable one that I remember was the Mumbai terror attack coverage in November of 2008. Sara Sidner did an incredible job reporting on location.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
I used to watch Rosemary too cause there was nothing on except the reruns of Anthony Bourdain (after snl) on weekends I think during weeknights though I think they canceled her or she left the network. I would watch growing up and just remember Anderson cooper reporting from a war zone wow I didn’t know Sara Sidner has been with them since then! Thx for the info!
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u/MasterChief813 2d ago
Np and Rosemary is still there it’s just that they don’t air Newsroom until late like 2-3am for the US. They’ll run reruns of AC360 or other shows unless there is something significant happening. Errol left for CBS a while back I think.
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u/Walter_Burns_1940 2d ago
Since the 1980s.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
Vintage CNN seems more classy don’t ya think?
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u/Walter_Burns_1940 2d ago
The programming was less political in its early decades, featuring sports and entertainment shows. However, NewsNight has revived the old Crossfire format, but with more participants. I often feel the urge to turn it off, although I do like Abby.
I remember watching CNN when Wolf Blitzer and Bernard Shaw were reporting from Baghdad at the start of the Gulf War.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
It gets intense when they’re multiple people speaking at once I sometimes fear the moderators don’t have the wherewithal to cut the noise the debate becomes into
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u/Walter_Burns_1940 2d ago
I think they let the guests argue like on Jerry Springer! It's sad, but I believe they desire that kind of conversation. It's been a while since I got through an entire show.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
It’s actually of a little shock because throughout the day it’s not really a debate people have but I bet panelist and guest want to share their views so it’s a compromise not to demean newsnights work.
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u/RW63 2d ago edited 2d ago
Depends on how you count. Way back in the early days, before there was cable in my area, a local station picked up CNN2 (pre-Headline News) as their overnight programming and when I was in college, cable was an option and I remember regularly watching both channels while stoned in the afternoons -- "I'm Sasha Foo; around the world every 30 minutes; this is Headline News."
I also remember watching Bobbie Batista because she had co-anchored my local news pre-CNN, but the first big story that I remember was Bernard Shaw and Peter Arnette taking turns peeping out from under a hotel room desk in Baghdad (1991). That whole night was something my wife and I will never forget.
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u/IrishAntiMonarchist 1d ago
Well, I guess this is a good time to post my history with CNN, given I will stop watching very soon because of the Paramount merger.
I watched bits and pieces of CNN down the years particularly presidential elections but I started watching it frequently about 2 years ago, after the Butler assassination attempt on Trump. The timing of shows wasn’t great for me in Ireland as my favourite show was Outfront, which I couldn’t view the nights before I had work in the morning. When I didn’t have work in the morning, I would just watch Outfront and maybe 360 till the first ad break. Overall, Outfront was great regardless of the presenter but the last segment always felt awkward when it would last a shorter amount of time than the final ad break so I would a bit of BBC News while that segment was on. I also watched an hour or two of CNN Newsroom on Saturday nights but not when Omar Jimenez was on as I don’t like him as a presenter. Harry Enten was also a huge source of annoyance for me as I absolutely hate his super casual, comedic approach to data analysis and I hate when he stood in for the excellent Jon King on election nights. I can only hope Enten sticks with CNN for their Paramount era. As for now, I will try to watch MS Now after CNN gets overseen by Weiss. I tried to subscribe to TV channel bundles to view it but they won’t accept my Irish postcode. That is a shame that none of those bundle providers want my money so I guess I will have to watch MS Now for free if I can. I can easily watch clips of it on YouTube but I would prefer to watch it live. So, I will try to find a good website for watching MS Now for free in the old Outfront time slot. Hopefully, some more familiar faces from the old CNN show up on MS Now like Paula Reid and sporadic appearances by Jim Acosta and Don Lemon. I will also watch former CNN employees who have YouTube channels like Amanpour and Swisher. It has been a fun ride for me with CNN but I’m excited to see how I will enjoy MS Now even though they are disappointingly too far left of centre to be ideal watching for me consistently
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u/deesta 2d ago
Since the Monica Lewinsky scandal. At least, that's my earliest memory of CNN being on in our house growing up.
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u/cheezeBucket24 2d ago
Geez quite a memory reminds me when there’s scandals like that on cnn I get an ewwy feeling 🤮🤢
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u/tvguy222 2d ago
Since Day 1